safe inside, criminal minds [ 1 ]

005. family reunion

Danielle waits outside the hospital for Spencer, getting off the bench when she notices him walk up.

"Hey." She smiles.

"Hey." He greets, accepting her hug.

"How'd your case go?" She asks.

"We, uh, we got the boy back safely. Caught the unsub." Spencer says.

"Good." Danielle says and he nods. "So what's this about sleeping over with mom?"

"I-I'm going to. You don't have to." Spencer says.

"Nah, it's cool. My roommate has a date tonight and her dates usually end with me needing headphones, so..." Danielle comments. Spencer frowns in confusion. "She has the sex with the date in our dorm."

"Oh. Ri-right. Yeah." He nods. "Okay, uh... yeah." He walks into the building, Danielle following.

After talking to the doctor, the three go over to where Diana is sitting at a table.

"I'm proud of you, Spencer." Diana tells him.

"For what?" He asks.

"Saving that boy." She says.

"How'd you know?"

"I told you. A mother knows."

"Dr. Norman gave us permission to sleep on the couch in your room tonight if it's all right with you." Spencer says. Diana looks at the doctor.

"If anyone tries to keep them in here any longer, I'll scratch your eyes out." She states. Danielle shares a look with her brother.

"One night only." Dr. Norman says before walking away.

"It helps if they think you're crazy. They don't argue." Diana tells her kids, earning a small laugh from her daughter.

+++

Danielle walks back to the cot after using the bathroom, the young woman half asleep. She passes Spencer's cot, backtracking when she notices something on his bed.

"Nerd still falls asleep with something to read." Danielle mumbles to herself. She grabs the papers and starts to close it before noticing what it is. "Huh."

+++

Danielle is at the police station, waiting while her roommate bails out her date since he got in a bar fight while he was drunk.

Danielle looks around, frowning.

"Spencer?" She asks, the man turning at his name and he looks confused at her being there.

"Dan-- what are you doing here?" He asks, walking over. "Wh-why are you at the police station? What'd you do?"

"Nothing." She says. "My roommate date was an idiot, she's bailing him out. What are you doing here? I thought you were going back to Quantico."

"I, uh... yeah, well, um..."

"Dr. Reid?" They both turn and the cop is holding a box. "Here's the Riley Jenkins case." He puts it on a table. "That was a rough one."

"Did you work the case?" Spencer asks.

"Yeah, I was 3 or 4 blocks away when the call came in on the radio. My first kid. You don't forget those."

"Can I ask you this? Were there any suspects?"

"The family, initially. A dad, an older brother."

"Makes sense. I heard the boy was found in his own basement, right?"

"Yeah. After a while, the family got defensive, stopped cooperating. A bit like the-- what's her name? The Jon-Benet case, I guess. I never liked them for it, anyway. I always figured it was somebody outside the home. What's the bureau's interest in the case?"